


The Irish Pirate and the Ghost.

by FaustGirl



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2018-12-06 13:55:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11602029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaustGirl/pseuds/FaustGirl
Summary: * Móra na maidine duit - Buenos días.





	1. Chapter 1

The phone in Nathan's office at Jameson's Marine rang several times just before he was about to walk out the door to get home and he picked it up.  
Nothing was heard at first, until a man's voice came up on the other side of the line.

"Nate, it's me, I wanted to talk a moment if you have time".

He was surprised to hear the voice of Victor Sullivan.

"Sure, Sully, what's going on?".

The old man cleared his throat several times before shedding his cigar.

"I know of someone else who can help us with all this mess of Avery's treasure, after all, much of the information came from him".

Nathan thought for a moment of who could be that man, but no name came to his mind.  
Sully seemed to expect some response, but he tired and spoke again.

"I'm talking about William O'Callaghan, you know, that Irishman who was helping you when that Panama thing happened".

Nate ducked his head, trying not to think about that horrible event and ran his hand over his forehead.  
After rubbing his eyes, he realized something.

"He had not been dead for twelve years?".

"Unfortunately yes, but I have in mind someone in his family who will be as good or even better, she has been studying Avery's trasure since her father died and if you agree to her coming, I will go pick her up up right now".

Nathan tilted his head a little as he picked up some papers that had fallen from the table.  
He piled them back on one side and put a weight on them so they would not move again.

"I heard well Sully, pick her up, whom?".

"His daughter Keilah, who else? Her brother didn't inherit the adventurous vein precisely".

Sully and Nate began to laugh and talked for a long time about William and all the time that had passed since his death.  
Through the window it could be seen that it was already night and Nate agreed that he should go and look for her.

"Go get her as soon as you can and come to Italy as fast as you can".

"We will not be late Nate, do not worry, and now I have to leave you, I have a plane to fly to Ireland and you must go home with Elena".

"See you soon, Sully".

They both hung up the phone at once and Nathan left the office to go home while Victor boarded his plane to fly to Howth, Keilah's village.

 

After a considerable number of hours, Victor landed at the airport of Dublin and rented a car to reach the fishing village.  
The village of Howth was thirteen miles from the capital.  
It was a beautiful village with a great tourist activity due to it's incredible landscapes, it's abbey, it's megalithic tomb and it's castle.  
Sully knew that after the death of her father she had been sent to live with her grandmother, since the relationship with her brother was not good and they thought that would be the best thing.  
How wrong they had been.  
William's death had only made it worse again, when she seemed to have recovered from the death of Nathan's brother when she was ten years old.  
She became even more antisocial and seemed only comfortable with the company of animals, even stopped talking for a few years until she seemed to be recovering.  
In that aspect life had not been fair to her and she felt that a curse was upon her and all the people around her would die.  
She had never had many friends, and the only one who had worried about her had died in Panama, or so they had told her.  
At the age of nineteen, her grandmother fell ill and died of an embolism from which she could not recover.  
Everything her grandma has in Howth became Keilah's property, and with the money she had, she bought from her brother the house they had grown up in San Diego, California, and occasionally she spent the summer there with the few friends she still had.

Victor came to the village and began to look for her a little lost, since the last time he saw her was when she was twelve, and that had been a long time ago.  
He entered the only pub there was and asked for her until he noticed something gripping his hand.  
Sully turned to see who it was and a little girl smiled at him as she looked at him with her huge green eyes.  
She did not seem to be over seven or eight years old, and she wore her long brown hair in a braid.  
The little girl wore a huge wool jacket and gray jeans.

"You're looking for Keilah?".

Sully nodded and she pulled his hand.  
She pulled him out of the pub and he sensed that she would take him to her, since she seemed to know her.  
They walked hand in hand until the girl left him in front of a lighthouse that seemed to be inactive.  
It was made of stone, and looked well-kept despite how old it was, and none of it's windows were broken or cracked.  
Moss and ivy covered an acre of its surface, and at its base were a multitude of shells and a small path among rocks that led down to the beach, where there was a wooden pier on which to fish.  
The girl stopped and went to the door.

"Wait here, I'll get down right away".

"All right, be careful".

He gave her a nip pinch on the cheek and closed the rusty metal door behind her.  
She climbed the huge spiral staircase two at two steps and reached the top with incredible speed.  
When she had reached the area where the lighthouse was, she stuck her head up the stairs.  
The room was completely circular, and anyone who lived there had taken the trouble to adapt the place so that it was viable to stay there long periods of time.  
The walls were decorated with a multitude of drawings, ranging from flowers to animals and even marine motifs.  
In the farthest part of the staircase, there was a kitchen equipped with a refrigerator, a sink and a cooking range.  
Beside it was a small table hanging from the wall, on which rested an enormous vase full of blue and white flowers.  
In front of the windows of the lighthouse, there was a bed for a single person and an endless amount of artistic material, among which you could see canvases, brushes, motherboards and many paint tubes of all kinds.  
In the center of the room, four shelves replaced the place that should occupy the light of the lighthouse.  
The silence of the room was interrupted by the fall of some glass object, and the voice of a woman who came from the opposite side of the room could be heard.

"Tara, come and help me a second please...".

The girl approached the figure who was sitting in front of an easel that covered a half-finished painting.  
Tara looked at the woman who had called her.  
She was about twenty-five years old, she had ginger hair and her eyes were so green they looked like emeralds.  
Her whole body was full of freckles, being more abundant in her face, chest and hands than in the rest.  
The woman face was framed by black glasses, and several piercing decorated her ears, the most striking of all, was the one in her left ear and was engraved with a Celtic knot.  
She wore a thick blue woolen jacket and black jeans with a hole in her knee as well as black canvas sneakers.  
Tara bent down to take the glass jar that had been rolled to her feet and returned it to her.

"Go raibh maith agat".*

"Tá fáilte romhat".*

The little girl approached the canvas and after looking at it turned around.

"Keilah, there's someone who wants to see you, he's downstairs waiting".

She got up and went to the sink to clean herself.  
When she had finished, both came down and left the lighthouse.  
The face Keilah put on seeing Sully was worthy of framing and she gave him a hug so strong that for a moment she left him out of air.

"Tara, tell your parents that today they can take the day off".

"Okay, I'll tell them". 

She walked over to the girl and kissed her forehead before she ran away.  
As the girl disappeared from her sight, she tapped Victor on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow.  
They began to walk and little by little they went deep into the forest.


	2. Chapter 2

As they came out of the forest, a huge hill lay before them, behind which stood Keilah's house.  
It was a building made of stone and wood, with a black roof that lacked some tiles.  
The porch that occupied the front of the house looked a bit newer than the rest of the house, but even so, some parts of its structure seemed somewhat worn.  
Beneath the window by the front door was an enormous bench of oak wood, which had been painted dark blue and had several patterns engraved on its surface.  
Victor followed the girl to the white door and when she opened it, the smell of wood filled his lungs.  
They left their things in the cozy hall and for a moment Keilah stopped to look at some of the photos, in which she was a child sitting on the lap of her grandmother, an elderly woman with red hair and led him to the kitchen.  
The blue and white color flooded the room, and at first the composition of furniture seemed strange, but when you stayed there a few minutes you got used to it.

"A cup of tea?".

She went to one of the kitchen cabinets and pulled out a brass jar.  
Sully sat down in one of the chairs in front of the kitchen table and rested his hands on its surface.

"I'd rather have some coffee if you don't mind...".

"Sure, no problem, coffee it is".

She changed the jar and took the coffee pot from another of the cupboards and after filling it she sat with Sully at the table.  
They watched eachother in silence for a few minutes as the noise of the coffee machine became louder and louder.

"I don't think you came to see me just because you missed me Sully, tell me the real reason for your visit...".

He took a cigar from his pocket and asked if it bothered her.  
At the denial she made with the head, and the offer of an ashtray, he lit it and after giving some drafts, he spoke.

"I came to see you because I need help with something I've been working on for a long time, plus I thought about it and it was a great idea to have someone else with me to help, and your name came to my mind and I''ll take you to Italy with me".

She crossed her legs and folded her arms behind her head.  
She sighed a long time before closing her eyes and throwing her head back.

"And what am I supposing that I can help you if I don't know what you have in hand, besides, what makes you think that I have continued doing the same as my father during all these years?".

Sullivan chuckled and gave the cigar another shudder.

"I will summarize and yours will be the decision to come with me or not, and if you had not been continuing what your father left, neither the room nor the studio would be so scrambled".

Kei smiled and rested her chin on the palm of her hand.

"I don't see how bad it is to go on with it, after all I'm betting that it's Avery's treasure what you're looking for".

The expression sketched by the old man at that moment told her everything she needed to know and laughed.

"I have caught you".

Sully smiled and shook his head a little.

"You have become very clever girl, your father would be proud of you, and now if you let me continue, I will tell you everything".

He got up from the chair and began to move through the kitchen as he spoke and explained the situation to Keilah, trying his best to hide the truth about Sam's death and Nathan's involvement in that matter.  
They stopped for a few moments to get some coffee and Sully continued talking with the cup in his hand.  
After nearly two hours of uninterrupted conversation, Keilah rose from her chair and walked to the kitchen door.

"I'll go to prepare the suitcase before making the dinner, I'm curious to see where all this will take us...".

She climbed the massive wooden stairs that led to the upstairs rooms and entered her room.  
The room was filled with things from all over the world that his father had given her every time he traveled somewhere.  
She walked over to her desk and pulled the chair closer to the closet to lower the suitcase over it.  
It was dusty and she wiped it with the sleeve of her jacket before opening it and begin to put everything she thought indispensable for her adventure.  
Keilah went down with it a few minutes later and left it by the entrance.

"I think I have it all, tomorrow before we leave, I'll take all my equipment".

She went back into the kitchen and Sully helped her prepare a fish soup they ate while they watched TV at times and talked about things that had happened to them in the last few years.  
They scrubbed the dishes and sat down on the couch while they drank black beer.

"I'm very sorry about your grandmother, I've known her for many years and I did not expect her to die like this...".

She put her hand on his shoulder.

"It is not that we could have done anything, before it happened she had a somewhat ugly season, didn't stop getting sick and seemed somewhat recovered, until two weeks later she had a stroke, it was Emma, Tara's mother who found her dead in her bed".

"It must have been awful".

"It was, but hey, one learns to live with these things when people die so often, I still get very sad when I remember my father and Sam".

"It's normal dear, they are things that affect people a lot, and especially if it's family or people very close to you".

Victor hugged her and after several minutes they separated.

"We should go to sleep now, tomorrow we have a long flight ahead".

"You're right, we should go to sleep now, you can have the room at the end of the hall, we changed the sheets yesterday, so there's no problem with that".

They went up the stairs and she kissed him on the cheek.

"Good night, Sully".

"Good night, Kei".

They closed the doors of their rooms and tried to sleep as much as they could to be well rested before the enormous adventure that awaited them.

 

Shortly before dawn, they had breakfast and picked up all the things they needed before they left and went to the village.  
When she reached the forest, she put the key to the house in the little bird house that hung from a tree and continued on their way.

"Go ahead, I have to tell Emma that I'm going, if I don't she'll hit me with the broom".

She laughed at her own comment and Sully kept walking toward the car.  
Keilah stopped by Emma's house before continuing and knocked on the door several times.  
A brown-haired woman opened the door and was surprised to see her there so early.

"Móra na maidine duit* Emma".

"Good morning Keilah, what are you doing here so early?".

"I have come to tell you that I will leave and I do not know exactly when I will return, so I ask you to please take care of the house until I return".

"Of course, we will take good care of it, and be very careful and come back safe and sound".

The two women hugged and Keilah put something in her hand.  
Emma looked at him and smiled.  
It was one of the dolls that Tara liked so much.  
The doll had black hair an she was dressed with a red and white te dress.

"Tell her to take good care of her while I'm away".

"I'll tell her don't worry, have a good trip".

"Thank you".

Keilah dragged her suitcase to the car and Sully drove to the Dublin airport where the plane was waiting for them.  
They secured all the luggage well, he started the engine and set off for Italy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Móra na maidine duit - Buenos días.


	3. Chapter 3

When they got off the plane Sully called someone and after a long conversation from which Keilah heard small and confusing fragments, he hung up the phone and beckoned the girl to follow him.  
They set off for the city.

"If you're going to go with me to the auction tonight, we'll have to find you something nice and suitable for the occasion".

"I know, and I do it for you, the last time I put on such a formal dress was for my grandmother's funeral, and I don't ever want to see one again...".

Since, to tell the truth, her family had money, it did not mean that she was going to spend it compulsively and she preferred to have a simpler life and dress in normal clothes as everyone else.  
The streets were crowded with people and she had to get away several times not to take ahead children who played there.  
The terraces of the bars and cafes were bursting with people and everyone chatted and laughed excitedly.  
They turned down one of the streets that led to the commercial district and made their way through the huge mass of people as best they could.  
After a long time they turned a corner and entered by a street that was somewhat emptier and for her they arrived at the area where the most expensive stores were.  
They both stopped in front of a window in which a beautiful sea-blue dress was displayed and Sully gave her a slight push to enter.  
As soon as the woman behind the counter saw them enter, she approached them.

"Benvenuto, my name is Lucia, can I help you with anything?".

The woman scanned them from top to bottom and crossed her arms over her chest.  
Keilah looked into her eyes and knew what she was thinking.  
She rolled her eyes so hard she could have turned around if she had wanted to.  
Victor put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at the woman.

"I need a nice party dress for my granddaughter, her father has become the boss of the company for which he worked and has organized a party to celebrate it".

The woman smiled and led them to an area where there were several fitting room.  
Sully sat down on the couch in front of one of them.  
Lucia began to ask the girl questions of all kinds about how she wanted the dress to go, and went to look for something that matched Keilah's directions.  
She sat down next to Sully on the sofa and sighed.

"Not that she was going to get me a regiment of dresses...".

He laughed and about twenty minutes later Lucia returned with both arms full of black dresses of all kinds of cuts and length.  
She cursed under her breath and stood up.  
She got Keilah into the fitting room and one by one she tried them until she found one that she liked.  
Lucia helped her put it on and looked at herself in the mirror.  
The dress was stuck to the body, highlighting her curves.  
From the waist up it was black lace and had a generous neckline.  
The skirt was all black.  
She looked at her back in the reflection of the mirror and was glad that the lace concealed her tattoo, since it was one of those that was difficult to hide with that type of fabric.  
She sighed sadly and put her hand on her shoulder.  
She still remembered the day she did it.  
It was a couple of weeks after the death of her grandmother, and she wanted to represent what that part of the family meant to her, since the part of her mother had totally disregarded her and in her grandmother was the only person in which she had  
found the necessary support to recover from the traumatic death of her father.  
It happened when she was thirteen, and she still trembled as she remembered the fear she felt as she found her father lying unconscious on the kitchen floor, and the screams that alerted her brother that something was wrong.  
Jeremy entered the kitchen and saw her crying next to her father's body and called for an ambulance, but by the time she arrived it was too late to do anything.  
After that day, the relationship between her and her brother went slowly down, and to this day they still did not speak except on the birthday of her nephew Ethan, whom his wife begged her to come, even if it was to see the child.  
Ethan was like her in many ways, and he loved to hear all the stories her aunt told about her adventures, but his father always brought him back to reality and rebuked him for not having his feet on the ground.  
That made her very angry, since when she was smaller he did the same and they ended up arguing about it.  
She shook her head several times trying to clear herself and took a deep breath.  
She left the fitting room and took a couple of twirls in front of Sully.

"How do I look?".

She looked at him anxiously awaiting his approval while she was dying of nerves.

"You look beautiful, black siuts you".

She smiled as she blushed a little and gave Lucia the approval.  
She returned with the clothes she wore before and when they went to pay, Keilah almost fainted at the price.  
She scratched her chin thoughtfully and Sully took out his credit card and paid for the dress before she could say anything.  
He took the huge bag and they left the store.

"Sully...".

"I don't want to hear a single word, you'll put it on tonight and no more talk".

Keilah sighed and kept looking at shop windows.  
Their next stop was a shoe store, and after spending a couple of hours there and trying on a number of shoes that they had already forgotten, she decided to stick with some black pair that had a thin heel and a small platform in the front.  
What she liked most of them was that they tied to the ankle and on the instep had a pair of strips that crossed in X on one another.  
The complements were somewhat simpler.  
In the same shop she bought a choker from which hung four golden semicircles, and each one was becoming something bigger than the previous one.  
A bracelet that covered a large part of the forearm and some earrings with the shape of a leaf all in gold.  
Contented with their purchases Sully took her to Hotel Di Fiorentino until it was the hour of the auction.

 

Keilah left the bathroom after being in there for a couple of hours and Sully was shocked to see how different and older makeup made her look.

"Where's the girl who came in two hours ago and what you've done with her?".

The girl laughed at Victor's question and sneered her tongue.  
He laughed and went into the bathroom to take a shower.  
She lay on the bed and inadvertently began to remember things from the past.  
An image of her and Samuel Drake came so clear to the her mind that she wanted to cry disconsolately but she tried to hold back the tears so as not to ruin her makeup and lay down on her side.  
He always took her to play in the park when he was going to visit her father and even went out with her to pick up candy for her and her brother on a Halloween that Jeremy was sick and couldn't get out of bed.  
She remembered happily the costume she wore and knew that it was still in one of the attic boxes.  
Her little brain then devoured between dressing as a witch or a pirate, and with a little help and magic from her neighbor Amanda, she went as a pirate witch and spent the whole night gathering candy to go home in the arms of Sam asleep  
as a stone.  
Samuel had been a very important person in her life, and thanks to him she felt somewhat more normal, since she had never been able to make friends and always exclude herself from all group activities and preferred to do things on her own.  
This behavior had always worried her father, who always tried everything he could to help her, but it was impossible, there was no way to solve it, until Sam appeared.  
He taught her a lot of things and made some friends thanks to him, but when he died all that disappeared and she returned to be the same as before, only this time it was worse.  
She was so depressed that William had no choice but to take her to the psychologist, and with it came the medication, which she had to return to with his death and that of her grandmother's.  
On her last visit to the clinic, the dose was reduced to a minimum and with a pat on the back, Angela, her psychologist took her out of the room.  
So far she had not suffered a relapse again, but she was afraid to think about it and tried to do everything she could to avoid it, so she took refuge in painting because that gave her peace and allowed her to express her thoughts and feelings.  
Shee sat up and scratched the back of her neck before getting up.  
As she heard the water fall, she began to dress and waited patiently for Sully to be ready.  
At first it seemed strange to see him in a suit, and it was the same for him, seeing her so arranged, but after a while they had become accustomed and led to the place where the auction would take place.  
The Rossi Estate was a huge villa full of greenery and Keilah was so surprised to get out of the car that her eyes shone with astonishment.  
Victor laughed softly and they entered the building.


	4. Chapter 4

The room where the auction would be held was filled with people who kept boring and cold conversations ranging from inheritance to business.  
Sully and Keilah approached a column and watched the room.  
The exhibitor in which they would place the objects to be auctioned remained empty, although they would not take too long to place something on it.

"Stay here and if anything happens come upstairs and tell me as fast as you can".

She nodded and leaned against the column as she drank a glass she'd picked up from a waiter's tray passing nearby.  
Victor went upstairs to continue with what was planned and opened the window through which the Drake brothers would enter.  
He sat down in one of the armchairs in the room and lit a cigar.  
Soon someone came in through the window.  
Nathan tried to get accustomed to the dim light in the room and narrowed his eyes a little as he approached the figure on the couch.

"Sully?".

Victor let out all the smoke from the last draft he had given his cigar.

"Know what I love about partying with a bunch of crooks?".

He lit the lamp beside him.

"What's that?".

"Nobody cares if you smoke indoors".

Both laughed, Sully got up and approached Nathan.

"It's been a while".

"Too long, boyo".

The two men hugged each other as Sam came in through the window and they turned to look at him.

"You remember my dead brother, right?".

Samuel approached him.

"Victor".

"Ill be goddamned, fifteen years...".

"Yep".

"Good to see you alive, Sam".

They shook hands and Nathan spoke.

"Let's uh...try keeping him alive by getting thos cross, huh?".

Sully took a step back and looked at him.

"Yeah, uh...about that...".

Sam looked at Nate in confusion, not understanding what was going on.  
At that moment someone knocked on the door several times and opened it.  
Keilah entered.  
She looked a little nervous and closed the door before opening her mouth.

"We have a problem".

The girl froze to see that there was someone else with Sully, since he had not told her that more people would come.  
She looked over the two men and smiled.

"My God Nate, I didn't recognize you".

She walked over to him and hugged him.  
She had not seen him for many years, but she recognized him instantly.  
He gave her the hug and laughed.

"I'm glad to see you, we hadn't seen each other for so long that I hardly recognized you".

She blushed a little and looked at the man next to Nathan.  
Her face turned pale and opened her eyes so wide it hurt.  
The man in front of her was none other than Samuel Drake himself, and she had to blink several times to make sure it was real.  
She walked over to him and rested her hand against his chest to confirm that it was solid and not an apparition.

"Sam?".

He didn't seem to recognize her, until he looked at her better, and he was as white as she was.

"Keilah?".

He took her hand and moved a little closer to her.

"How much you have grown, the last time I saw you, you would not go over my waist and...".

She interrupted him by giving him a hug so strong that she was not sure if she had hurt him or not.  
Sam hugged her as hard as he could and rubbed her back several times trying to keep her from crying.  
Seeing her there was the last thing he would have expected, but even so, it filled him with joy to see how much she had grown and how beautiful she had become.  
Sully cleared his throat several times and they parted.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this emotional meeting, but we have work to do, when we have left here you can speak everything you want and you said before that there has been a problem".

Keilah took a deep breath and turned to Victor.

"They have changed the order of the lot and have taken out the cross, and I am not going to lie, many people seem interested in getting it...".

They slipped out of the room and leaned over the railing of the second-floor staircase to watch the room.  
In the exhibitor were the cross, a knife and a sphere that had a small cross in it's upper part.

"Take a whole pile of cash to make that happen".

They tried to reassure themselves and Nate walked over to the side table.

"All right, well how long before they start the bidding?".

"Ten, fifteen minutes tops".

Keilah leaned back against the railing with her elbows resting on it and that gesture made her cleavage open a little more than normal and Sam could not help but look, although he seemed a little more calm when he saw that she had not noticed  
and she looked at them worriedly.  
She had never been in a situation like this before and was getting more and more nervous.  
Sam gave her a small squeeze in the arm to calm her a little.

"We do not have so much time to be losing it without doing anything...".

"I know it kid, I know it".

Nathan pulled away from the railing and approached the other two men.

"Well, there's gotta be some way we can grab it".

Sully chuckled.

"There is just the small mater of a few hundred eyewitnesses down there".

"Okay, okay...but we just need a diversion".

"Like?".

Nate looked rather hesitant and tried to find the words he needed.

"Like, um...Like I don't know...but there's gotta be something".

"Well, if the guards see us making fot that cross...".

Sam tapped Sully on the shoulder.

"What if they don't see us? Jesus, you guys act like you've never spent time im prison, if you want something dirty done...then you wait...".

"For lights out".

Everyone looked at Keilah as if she had the idea of the century and she blushed a little.  
She was glad to be able to help them, and was very glad to have gone there with Sully, for if she had not she would have continued with her boring days in Irleand.  
She missed the adventure, and it reminded her of the games her father prepared for her birthday or at Christmas, where she had to follow the clues to find her gifts.  
Only this time it was not a game, it was real, and for her to die was not an option.  
Now that she knew Sam was alive there were so many things she wanted to tell him and do with him that the list would be endless.  
Victor turned to Nate.

"Where's that electrical panel for this place?".

Nate took a piece of paper from his pocket and placed it on the table.  
The girl was surprised to see that it was a map of the building.  
He was pointing out points on it as he spoke.

"There's ventilation...electrical...that's it up here, so we just have to climb up there and kill the lights...".

"Grab the cross in the dark".

"There will be an emergency generator".

"That'll give us a few seconds of darkness to work with".

"Meaning...we'll have to be right next to the cross when the loghts go out".

"Except there's no way we can get that close without being noticed".

At that moment a waitress approached them with a tray of food and Sam took one while it flirted with her, reason why Nate hit him in the shoulder and it scolded to him for not being focused.  
Keilah chuckled and sighed, since nothing had changed in all these years.

"A waiter wouldn't get noticed".

"That could work".

Samuel ate what he had taken from the tray and then licked his fingers afterwards.  
Nate laughed and laid his hands on the table.

"That will work, all right, all right, I'll get to the breaker room, kill the power".

Sam licked his fingers again and looked at him.

"You mean I'm the waiter?".

"You're the best pickpocket".

He pointed to Sully and went on to explain what they would do.

"You head down to the floor, keep ans eye on the prize, okay? let us know if anything, uh...hinky...goes down".

"Roger that".

"Listen, we've still got this, ready?".

Sam and Keilah nodded at once and began to move.

"Follow me, we'll cut through the cellar".

They went downstairs and Sully led them to the door where Nathan and Sam had to enter, but it was locked.  
This for a moment disrupted their plans, but they heard a beep and the door opened.  
A man came in with a bottle of wine in his hand.  
They saw an electronic card in his pocket and Nate managed to steal it.  
When they returned to the door, Sully gave each one a earphone to keep in touch.  
They put it on and went through the door while Keilah stayed with Sully.

"Good luck".

"We'll be in touch".

The girl closed the door after looking at Sam for the last time and followed Sully to the crowd of people standing in front of the auctioneer.


	5. Chapter 5

Keilah scanned the room trying to find something, and when she did, she touched Victor's hand.

"If I do not have a drink, I'm going to end up going crazy".

He laughed and took a long drag on his cigar.  
Near them a waiter passed and she took a couple of appetizers and ate them in a second.  
She sighed in resignation.

"Try to calm down, there's still a lot of night ahead and we can not miss this".

"I know, I'll stay there for a while and I'll come if I see that there are problems".

He kissed her cheek and winked at her.  
She approached the bar as she dodged some groups of people and asked the bartender for a Spiced Rum on the rocks.  
She turned to see how Sully was doing and was surprised to see him with a brunette woman dressed in red and black.  
They talked for a few moments and she watched as the woman approached where she was.  
She left shortly afterwards with a glass in her hand.  
It seemed that she had not noticed her, and with that little knowledge the redhead began to wander around the room.  
She paused by a few columns near the auction table and tried to hold back her laughter when she saw Sam walk in as a waiter.  
Although It had to be acknowledged that he didn't look so bad in that.  
Victor was still talking to that woman and Sam stopped short of the Irish girl.  
She realized it and passed by him to get a drink from the ones he was carrying on the tray and approached Sully to see that a man wearing a white tuxedo was joining them.  
Keilah knew that they knew each other, and the man seemed strangely familiar, though she did not remember why.  
They seemed rather tense.  
Sully realized her arrival and reached for her.

"Just who I wanted to see".

She took his hand and stood beside him.  
The man in the white tuxedo stared at her, which made her squeeze Sully's hand tightly as she held her face as calmly as possible.  
The woman smiled and folded her arms.

"And who is your companion?".

"Her name is Keilah".

She shook hands with each one, but when the man in white had to let go of her hand he did not.  
He stared at her again and let her go.

"My name is Rafe, Rafe Adler, and she's my partner Nadine Ross".

Hearing that first name, her mind began to spin and she swallowed hard.

"Have you ever worked with William O'Callaghan, Mr. Adler?".

"Indeed, but that was many years ago, I remember he had a daughter, but I do not know what happened to her".

Sully drank his glass a few times and rested his hand on Keilah's waist.

"You're looking at her right now, Rafe".

Rafe was quite surprised if his face did not express the same.

"Whoa, who was going to tell me that little redheaded was going to become something like that".

Keilah didn't know whether to say good or bad, but just as she was about to respond, a woman stood behind the atrium.

"In a few moments we'll begin bidding on our next item, an inlaid wooden crucifix from the Trott Estate".

"Well, I know when we must go, you two kids have fun tonight".

Keilah and Sully started to pull away from them when Rafe grabbed his forearm.

"Just hold on, Sully, how'd you find out about it?".

"It? now what "it" is that, Rafe? Nadine, I think your partner here has had too many Bloody Marys...".

Rafe struck Sully's hand, causing the glass he held to fall to the floor, breaking into a thousand pieces and pointing his finger at him.  
Keilah looked at Sully out of the corner of her eye as she thought it was the best she could do.

"Cut the bullshit, old man, now I don't know how you two scammed your way in here, but if you think about bidding on Avery's cross, I can tell you exactly how you're going to be leaving, in a goddamn body bag...".

"Rafe!".

He laughed and cleaned his suit.

"Well you get my point".

"Lovely seeing you both".

He took Keilah's hand and carried her with him as fast as he could to another spot in the room.  
He tried to contact Nathan, but it seemed that communication was not working at that moment.  
They stood behind a small table and after a few minutes they both heard Nathan through the earphone.

"Sam? Sully? Keilah? you there?".

Sully sighed in relief.

"God damn it, kid, where the hell've you been?".

"I made it, had a few close calls, but...".

"Yeah, well if you're gonna cut the power, this would be a good time".

"All right, well, I'm gonna need a minute before I can reach the pannel".

"Nate, we don't have a minute, if you don't do something now, Rafe's will be out of here with your cross".

"Wait Keilah, Rafe is here?".

For a moment she heard another voice and knew it was Sam's.

"Yes, he is here and as of roght now he has the highest bid".

"Well, outbid him".

"With what? I don't have that kind of scratch".

"Sully, we're stealing it remember?".

"What if he calls my bluff?".

"He won't".

The woman announcing the auction spoke again.

"We have ninety thousand, do I hear any more bids?".

Sam had come a little closer to the cross and looked worried.

"Guys, if we do not get this cross, I am as good as dead".

The irish girl drank from her glass and cleared her throat.

"But if we end up with the highest bid, we're all dead".

Time was running out, and they needed to think of something that could get them out of trouble.

"Sully, I need you to buy me more time, trust me...".

The count to finish the bids started.

"Ah, screw it".

Victor raised the wooden circle they had given him, which he had written the number 64.

"Bene, we have one hundred tousand euros in the room, thank you. Do we have any other bids?".

Rafe looked at Keilah and Sully and lifted his own, which was written with the number 39.

"We now have one hundred ten thousand euros in the room".

Sully wondered what to do next and looked at Keilah.

"In for a penny, in for a pound".

He raised his number again.

"That bid brings us to one hundred twenty".

The sum continued to rise to two hundred thousand euros.  
Nathan's voice was heard again.

"I'm at the switch, you ready?".

"As I'll ever be. Victor, Keilah?".

"Ready Nate".

"Just a sec".

He lifted his number one last time and the bid went up to two hundred and ten thousand euros.  
Rafe lifted his one more time.

"Five hundred thousand! Let's get this show on the road here".

"Thank you, we have five hundred thousand euros in the room, does the gentleman wisah to bid again?".

This time Sully passed and left it to Rafe.

"Had me worryed there for a minute, Victor! thought I might have to kill you!".

At his comment the whole room began to laugh.  
Sully smiled and covered his mouth with the hand he was holding the cigar.

"Okay, let's ruin this asshole's evening".

Just as he was about to award the sale, the lights went out suddenly, and when they returned, the cross was gone.  
Rafe watched as Sullivan and Keilah disappeared through a door that he could not get through, as one of the guards carrying a weapon was in the middle and blocked his way.

 

They prepared everything for the escape at the front door and waited for the Drake brothers to appear.  
Everything was filled with guards in an instant and they evacuated the room in which they had been moments before.  
Keilah became very nervous and began to rub her hands.

"Calm down, they will come safe and sound".

"I hope so".

They rode in a white car, and in short, Sully saw them appear.  
He started the engine and they both hopped inside trying to dodge the shots of the guards.  
They opened wide a metal door that was closed and they went up a ramp that would take them to the exit while they continued firing them.  
When they were far enough, they stopped the car and Keilah was the first to leave.  
She spent a few minutes sitting on the other side of the road trying to calm down and catch some air.  
Sam came out a little later to see how she was.

"You okay, hun?".

"A little nervous that's all, I've never been shot...".

"It's okay, there's always a first time for everything".

Samuel put his arm around her shoulders and drew small circles over it, remembering that when she was little that used to calmed her down.

"Do you think we can continue or need more time?".

"Yes, thank you Sam".

The irish girl kissed his cheek, got up and walked to the car.

"Let's go now, or they'll catch us".

The two got into the car and drove to the hotel.


	6. Chapter 6

The four entered the room of the hotel where they had stayed and all but Keilah sat around the round table in the center of the room.  
The redhead went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.  
Sam was still worried about her, but he tried not to pressure her because he knew how she would react.  
Keilah turned on the tap, and the sound of the water broke the silence.  
She put her hands on both sides of the sink and sighed heavily.  
Knowing that Samuel was alive had made her enter into a small state of shock that had begun to show symptoms after the flight of the Rossi Estate and that Rafe Adler was involved in it also did not reassure her much.  
Her pulse was very fast and she could feel cold sweats.  
She let go of all the accessories she wore and set them aside.  
Keilah washed her face with ice water to try to clear herself and she took off her makeup.  
She smiled slightly at the sight of all the freckles that decorated her face and dried it with one of the towels that were hanging there.  
Outside she could hear as they talked, but she did not put much interest in it because she knew that Nathan or Sam would explain it later to her.  
After a while, she heard some of them leave the room and startled when someone knocked on the door several times.

"You're good?".

Samuel's voice sounded somewhat worried and she opened the door.  
When he saw her, he smiled and leaned against the door frame.

"I'm fine, it's just that there have been many things to digest them all at once...".

She walked to the terrace with an ashtray in her hand and Sam followed her with a couple of glasses he'd filled.  
They sat in the armchair outside and she picked up one of the glasses.  
Sam lit a cigarette and she picked up another.

"I didn't know you smoked".

"I only do it when I'm nervous or I have too much in my head...".

He lit it and she smoked from it.  
She exhale all the smoke forming rings and drank from the glass.  
They were silent for several minutes until she stood up and set the glass on the table and the cigarette in the ashtray.

"I'll be right back".

She left the room and returned shortly afterwards with a blue package in her hand.  
She sat down on the couch again, and after drinking from her glass she gave the blue object to Sam.

"Could you pass some of these on my back? I can't reach it".

"Of course".

She stood with her back to him and unfastened all the buttonsof the back of the dress she could until she didn't reach more and Sam unbuttoned them for her.  
She picked up her hair to get it out of the way and she gave a small shiver when she noticed the frozen towel on her skin.  
He chose a place to start and was surprised to see that after the first pass, the wipe stained with the product with which she had covered something black.  
He continued with this task until he had completely cleaned it and left the tattoo that covered her shoulder blades and a piece of the spine exposed.

"Since when do you have a tattoo like that?".

"I did it after graduating from high school and it hurt like hell".

Sam ran his fingers gently over the intricate Celtic knots and watched it closely until something caught his attention in the lower part of the desing.  
She tossed the fabric of her dress a bit down so he could see it while she continued smoking.  
On the right side was written a phrase in Greek, and on the left side another in Latin.

"Brevis ipsa vita est sed malis fit longior".

"Our life is short, but it gets longer by misfortunes."

"Is it from Publius Syrius, right?".

"It expresses perfectly in what has become my life, something that has been made longer by all the misfortunes that have happened to me".

Sam ran his fingers through the words and focused on the other sentence, but as Keilah saw that it took him something longer to read.

"Dôs moi pâ stô, kaì tàn gân kinásō. It means "Give me a foothold and I will move the earth".

"I'm glad to see that you've been interested in what I taught you".

She got up and looked at him with her arms folded as she laughed.

"Are you kidding, if I even did the classical languages career in college, you know I've always liked these things".

"No doubt you are your father's daughter".

She smiled and someone knocked on the door of the room.  
When it opened, they saw that it was Victor.

"Kids, you should go to bed, tomorrow will be a long trip and I will not stand a single complaint during the flight".

Sam and Keilah laughed.

"Don't worry Sully, we will go to sleep right away".

Sully left them alone again, and as she entered the room again Keilah stepped on her dress without realizing it and almost fell, but Sam caught her.  
His arm went to the lower part of her chest and he pulled her up.  
At that moment she remembered the countless times he'd caught her like this and had her on his shoulder like a sac of potatoes when she was too asleep to walk.  
He sat her down on the couch again and knelt before her.  
The irish girl watched his movements curiously and he lifted her dress slightly to remove her shoes.  
His hands left small, ghostly caresses that made her hair stand on end.

"That has been close, but the next time you wear heels I may not be there to hold you".

They both smiled and got up.  
She took the shoes and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm glad to see you again Sam, good night".

"Good night little sunflower".

Keilah left the room and went to the one she shared with Sully and tried to sleep as much as she could until they had to start up again.

 

During the flight between Nate and Sam they explained everything they had not told Keilah the night before.  
The redhead was very happy to be able to go to Scotland, since she had started living with her grandmother she took her there every summer, even one of them took her to see the Saint Dismas' Cathedral and spent the hours around the cemetery.  
The three men were surprised to learn that she had already been there, and she laughed.

"It can be said that I did not have a normal childhood, although I didn't want it, I liked it and I still like all that kind of things".

They landed in the water near a cliff and the two brothers emerged from the seaplane to the mainland.  
In the background several explosions could be heard and Sully spoke with Nate through the radio.

"Sully".

"Yeah?".

"Hey, listen, we're good to go here".

"Okay kid, happy hunting".

"Last chance to come with".

"Yeah, well, unless you can find me an escalator, I think I'll pass".

Nate laughed at the other end of the line.

"All right, we'll see us in a few ".

"Hey, Nate...".

"Yeah?".

"Just...Ah, just bring me back something shiny, will ya?".

"That's the plan".

Keilah took the radio from Sully's hands and held it to her mouth.

"Before you go, Nate, if you have problems, do not hesitate to let me know and I'll come and help you".

"Thank you, honey, but we'll figure it out".

"I hope so, Sam, I hope so, but I do not keep you any longer, have fun".

They cut off the communication and Keilah approached Victor a little.  
He seemed worried and was not for less.  
She put her arm around him and leaned on his shoulder.

"They'll be fine, do not worry".

"I hope you are right".

 

After several hours during which there were more explosions and shots a huge earthquake struck the area.  
Keilah peered out the door of the seaplane and stared wide-eyed as the cathedral trembled.

"This has had to be their thing, I have no doubt".

Sully picked up the radio and got in touch with the Drakes.

"God damn it, Nate, We can hear the fireworks from here, what the hell's going on?".

"Long story; short version is get us the hell out of here!".

"Yeah, I figured, hold tight, be there soon as I can!".

Victor took off the hydroplane to get to Natahn and Samuel as quickly as possible, but there was nowhere to land, only water.

"Hey kid, there's no place to land up here, can you make it down to the water?".

"Yeah...Set her down, one way or another, we'll get to you".

They flew over the area trying their best to dodge the shots of Nadine's mercenaries.  
They landed near a rock slope and waited for them to appear.

"Boys, they're shooting at my plane, hurry the hell up, or your ride's gonna sink!".

Nate and Sam got in as fast as they could and jumped into the sea.  
Keilah had left the door open for them to enter.

"Sully! Get her going! Quick!".

They entered as fast as they could and took off to get out of that nightmare.  
Once in the air they dried and changed clothes and Nate sat in the co-driver's chair next to Sully while Keilah stayed in the back with Sam.

"That was a close one, huh?".

"They shot up my goddamned plane, Nate!".

Sam turned to him slightly offended.

"We're fine, thanks".

Nate glanced at Sully and wrapped himself around the blanket he wore on his shoulders.

"How soon can you get us to Madagarcar?".

Victor looked surprised.

"No trasure, then".

"Not yet".

Samuel turned to them and rose from his seat.

"I don't know what you're talking about? Look we're rich!".

He handed Sully a copper coin.

"Jesus...Suppose it's a start, and you think the rest is in Madagarcar?".

"There was a chamber back there with a giant map of Madagascar on the floor, so...Yeah, it's probably there".

"This is beginning to smell a whole lot like wild goose, kid".

"Look, the treasure was never in Scotland, okay?".

"Then what was the point of all that, huh? Of the Saint Dismas cross?".

"Look, it's like I said, I think Avery was recruiting people, the cross was an invitation an the caves were just some sort of initiation".

Sam went to the door of the cabin and rested his hands on each side of the door frame.

"Oh, so we all passed, huh? Congrats Victor, we get eye patches and parrots now".

At that sentence the irish girl began to laugh and wrapped her arms around her stomach, imagining how they would all look.

Sam walked over to her and started tickling her, which made her laugh even more.

"Sam stop, I can't take it any more!".

"Wow, I thought you were a pirate".

"And I am".

"Of course, just like when I played with you as a child, the Pirate Queen".

She blushed a little at that and Sam kissed her forehead.  
He let Keilah catch some air and then returned to his brother and Victor.

"I don't get it, why the hell would they go to all thet bother justo to weed people out?".

"To protect himself, Avery was the most wanted man in the world at that time, he had to enlist people that he could trust in order to keep their treasure secret".

"Whaddya mean, "their" treasure?".

"Just think about this, Thomas Tew was a successfull pirate in his own right, what would he possibly stand to gain from joining Avery?, I think Avery sent out crosses only to the other wealthy pirates like himself, what if they pooled and hid  
all their trasure together?".

"That would make the Gunsway haul look like chump change".

"Exactly".

"Ho, ho, holy shit, okay, so where is exactly in Madagascar are we going?".

"King's Bay, it was and old pirate heaven back in Avery's time".

"I know it well...It's a big place, anything more specific?".

"Wellm thet map chamber completely caved in, so, you know...".

Nate laughed at his brother's answer.

"What are you laughing about?".

"The people who survived in the caves...the recruits, what's the one thing they would've left with?".

He raised his hand to show them the coin and threw it at his brother.  
Sam watched it closely.

"There's a volcano on this".

"Huh...and there's a volcano near King's Bay, which mean we need to get to a move on".

Sully increased the speed of the plane and headed towards King's Bay.


	7. Chapter 7

Once they landed, they took their bags out of the plane and Keilah saw Nate talking to someone on the phone.  
She passed him with Sully and Sam and could hear a female voice on the other side.  
They searched for a motel to stay in and she had to share a room with Victor.  
They tried to sleep as much as possible, but Keilah was so nervous she could not stop moving in bed.  
The next morning the three men went to rent a car so they could move faster and left Keilah at the motel as she prepared.  
When they returned Sam jumped from the back of the 4x4 and knocked several times at the girl's door.  
When he did not get a reply, he opened it and went inside.  
The room was empty, but the bathroom door was closed and you could hear movement inside.

"Keilah, it's time to go, come on".

"Give me a moment, I'll be ready in a second".

Sam layed back on the bed and waited for her to come out.  
Several minutes later the bathroom door opened.  
He sat up and was speechless when he saw her.  
The red-haired girl wore a denim overall with a small sunflower print, which wore a white tank top and black canvas sneakers.  
She approached a table and from it she took a red bag in which she stuffed the things she thought they would need.  
As she put things in it she looked at Samuel in the reflection of the mirror.  
Her eyes scanned him from top to bottom and they stopped in his arms.  
He had much more muscle since the last time she had seen them and she assumed that he had not wasted time in jail because apart from reading he would not have much more to do.  
Realizing that she had been staring for too long, she turned something red and snapped her fingers to get Sam out of his daze.

"You did not come to get me to go outside?".

"Oh yeah, sorry...".

He got up from the bed and somewhat embarrassed approached the door.  
She did the same and closed it behind them.  
They walked at some distance from each other and approached the car where Nathan and Victor were waiting for them.  
Shortly before they arrived, Sam leaned over her and smiled.

"Are not you going too cute knowing the places we have to get in?".

"I've been worse dressed when I went into places like that".

Keilah winked and jumped to the rear of the 4x4.  
He did the same and messed her hair a little after sitting down.  
Nate started the car and drove to the place where they were to begin their search.

 

As they approached the volcano became more visible.  
Keilah pulled the phone out of her bag and frowned.  
Sully then took his own too and saw that there was no signal.  
They stopped the car and got out of it with Sam, who threw a pebble into the air.  
They stayed like this for a long time, until Keilah got tired of sitting and got out of the car.

"What're the satellites saying, Victor?".

"Right now, not a goddamn thing, I lost the signal".

Nate got out of the car and approached the front.

"Hey, y'know what never lost its signal?" Paper".

He unfolded a map of the area, which was full of red and blue marks and placed it on the hood.  
He pointed to a blue line.

"All right, this route right here should take us straight to the volcano, might get a little bumpy though".

"Let's get this show on the road".

"OK".

"All right".

Nathan folded the map and they all got into the car.

"So, what're we looking for out here?".

"Well, the map shows all these structures around the volcano, some abandoned outpost, a handful of watch towers".

"Watch towers?".

"Avery was the most wanted man in the world, so if he was hiding something out here, it makes sense he'd need lookouts".

"And one of those towers is right on the volcano".

"With Avery's treasure?".

"Fingers crossed."

Nathan drove until they reached an area from which they could see some ruins.  
Keilah clung to his shoulders and pointed in that direction.

"Nate look, there's something there".

He stopped the 4x4 and went to the structure to examine it while the rest stayed down and chatted.  
He came back a little later and started the car again.

"Well?".

"Ah, nothing worthwhile, c'mon, let's keep going".

They drove down a stone corridor that had several pools of water and when turning a bend the volcano was again in sight.

"So with our luck, what are the odds this volcano is going to erupt on us?".

Keilah gave a small kick to the back of his seat.

"Very funny".

Sully turned around and leaned his arm against the door.

"Zero, it's extinct, trust me, that's the first thing I looked up when we said we were heading for a volcano, that, and where to rent the cheapest 4x4".

Nathan was very surprised to hear that from Sully and laughed.

"Wait, Sully...you're telling me that you did some research?".

"Can't let you be the know-it-all every time, kid".

Keilah and Sam laughed and leaned back in their seats.  
They made a few turns until they found a cave behind a waterfall.  
The irish girl and Nate went in to investigate.

"You look at that side and I'll look at that one".

"Agree".

They went to examine the place and Nate went up to a higher area with the help of a box that was there.  
When he went down, he approached her and showed her a note he had found.  
Seeing that they would find nothing more useful there they got into the 4x4.  
They passed under a wooden bridge that looked quite run down and Nate came up to try to cross it.  
Keilah looked at Sam slightly worried and swallowed hard.

"Nate, if we come out alive from all this I invite you to a round of whatever you want".

"Sounds good, but don't retract".

"I will not, I always do what I promise".

They put the car in front of the bridge and prepared to cross.

"Okay, kid, just...don't drop us".

At first all was well, but at the half of the bridge the wood gave a little.  
Keilah clung tightly to Sam's arm and did not let go until they had reached the other side.  
Calmly, she sighed and ran her hands over her face to wipe the sweat down her forehead.  
They climbed a hill full of mud and then fell on a slight slope that swayed the car a lot and did some damage before crossing a river.

"Look boys, tire tracks, someone came up this way".

They climbed the stone ramp and reached other ruins while they argued over a winch and why they would need it.  
When Nate and Sam arrived they went to have a look.  
On the floor it was drawed the symbol of a serpent with wings, or the closest thing to a dragon at that time.

"Sam look".

Samuel knelt beside the symbol and examined it.

"That's Cristopher Condent's sigil, Captain of the Fiery Dragon. Operated out of Madagascar around Avery's time, so...maybe Avery recruits pirate captains...to what, be his lookout? that don't make any sense".

"No, it doesn't".

"Well, maybe each captain was responsible for a tower...along with providing the men for it? whatever the case...this certainly isn't our final stop on our tour".

While they were investigating, Keilah stood for a long time looking at the mud ramp in front of them and thought how to climb it, as the road continued higher, and had an idea when she saw a tree.  
She went to the front of the car and tied the winch to the tree so the car could climb it.  
She walked over to the edge and motioned for Nate to try.

"You see, Sully? winch, totally worth it".

"We cleared a hill, it hasn't exactly paid for itsef".

"Well, not yet, small victories".

"Yeah, well, I'll celebrate the big ones".

Samuel squeezed the girl's shoulders and once they were inside the car she highed five with Nathan.

"Good idea sunshine".

"Thanks Sam, although it was the tree that did all the work".

They followed the path until they came across the impressive view of the volcano and she could not help taking some photos.  
She got up from the seat a bit and Sam grabbed her by the waist so she would not fall with such a rattling.  
It made her blush a little, but she tried to stay focused on taking pictures.

"Just imagine...you've come here, a well-to-do pirate, far away from your oppressive govermment...".

"Poor, oppressed pirates, all they wanted to do was to murder and pillage in peace".

"No, no, they wanted to live as free man".

"Well...if you're gonna pick a place to run away from society, you could do a lot more worse than here".

"It's taking forever to get to this volcano".

At that moment Keilah agreed with Sully on it and acknowledged that she was a little tired of being in the car for so long.

"Patience, Victor, patience, Keilah. Do you know how those pirates got here? they had to start in England, sail to Brazil, then back across the Atlantic to South Africa...".

"Sam...".

"And they figured all that out with paper, charts and by looking at the stars".

"Hey, you're describing sailing to a former squid".

"I've also spent a lot of time at sea, so...".

"The point is, we git it pretty easy".

"Yeah? well...still taking a long time".

Keilah took bottles of water out of her bag and passed them for everyone to drink.  
A long time later they climbed another huge slope full of mud and in the distance next to another of the towers there was an explosion.

"Oh shit, stop, stop!".

They stopped the car and looked around the area to see that there were Shoreline's soldiers.  
Nathan thought a plan to be able to get out of there as undisturbed as possible and hid the 4x4 behind rocks.

"Sully, stay here with Keilah, Sam and I'll be back shortly when we're done with these guys".

Before either of them could say anything or stop them, they ran away.


	8. Chapter 8

After a few minutes of absolute calm and silence Keilah got into the car and hugged her knees to her chest.  
Victor came over her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Do not worry about them, they'll be fine".

"I know, but I can't help it, it's the first time I've been with them for years and I'm worried that something might happen to them".

"I understand, it's never easy to do things like this".

Sully leaned against the car door and she leaned against the backseats as she took a notebook from her bag.  
They still had no news of the Drake brothers, but they would not be long in coming back.  
She took a small metal case out of her bag and extracted a black pen with which she began to draw small scribbles in the empty corner of a page that was filled with drawings of various colors.  
In the distance screams and shots were heard and they knew that something was wrong, and as much as she wanted to go to help them, it might just make things worse.  
When the shots ceased there was an explosion, followed by a deadly silence.

"I'll see what's happened, stay here".

"Okay...".

She watched the old man go and layed in the backseat while she waited.  
The minutes became endless and she decided to listen to some music to pass the time.

 

A knock on the door of the 4x4 caused her to get up quickly, frightened.  
She stopped the song she was listening to and looked at the three men.

"Have you found anything?".

They got into the car.

"The sigil of Adam Bladrige".

"That guy wasn't in to slavery?".

"Yes, apart from many other things."

Nathan led up to a visibly unstable bridge leading to his next destination and Keilah gritted her teeth at the sight.  
As soon as they started crossing it, the infrastructure gave way under the car and they fell.

"Oh, crap!".

"Jesus, these pirates really need to work on their infrastructure".

"Now how we get outta here?".

After watching for a while the surrounding Nate got out of the car and tied the winch to one of the pillars of the bridge.  
Sully took the driver's seat and backed away until it broke.  
Then Nathan hooked the other.

"One down, one to go!".

Sully did the same with the second and when it fell he created a ramp that would allow them to leave there and continue their adventure.

"Again with the winch, Sully. Pretty handy, right?".

"I wasn't against getting the winch, I was against getting ripped off".

Across the bridge stood a Shoreline truck.  
Keilah sighed and put her hands on the back of her neck.

"They are never going to get tired of this, are they?".

"I don't know sunflower, I don't know".

They went down a small slope that shook them a little in their seats.

"Sully, just how well do you know Nadine?".

"Why...?".

"I was thinking, maybe you can contact her, convince her to call off her goons?".

"Yeah, right".

"What if we promise her abigger cut than Rafe?".

"No, that's not how she operates. She's moreof a money-up-front kind of mercenary, so Rafe's hot the advantage there".

They continued to drive until another huge landscape opened before them and Sam got up from his seat as he gripped the jeep bar.  
In the distance they could see several trucks like the one before.

"Look, Shoreline".

"Yeah, they're definitely going all in, aren't they?".

"And getting awful close to that volcano".

"I was thinking the same damn thing. What if they found the treasure already?".

"Well, look, they're searching every inch of this place, if they'd found it already, they wouldn't be searching".

"Yeah...yeah, you're right".

Something more tranquil about the treasure, they came to a half-demolished well.  
Sam smiled at it.

"Hey, is that a well?".

Nate got out of the car and went to inspect it.

"Well, well, well".

He and Keilah laughed at the joke.

"Get it? You know, cause it's a well".

"Sully he stole yout joke".

"I noticed, good sense of humor, though".

Nate disappeared inside the well for a while and climbed back up to catch the 4x4 winch.  
He came back down and shouted at Sully.

"Hey Sully! Throw the car in reverse".

"Okay, give me a second".

He backed away with the car and it could be heard as something made of wood fell heavily to the ground.  
Returning to the car and pulling it off, Keilah leaned on Nate's shoulder.

"Did you find something interesting down there?".

He gave her an ornate silver cylinder.  
The irish girl examined it carefully, astounded by its engravings and reliefs.

"Impressive, whoever it was its owner had thought to send some important letter within this".

She returned it and they focused again on their target, reaching the next tower.


	9. Chapter 9

They spotted an entrance on the rocks and approached to see if it was a cave or not.

"Check this out, wonder it that's man-made or natural?".

"Looks to me to be half and half".

They entered the tunnel and saw a column of smoke and some ruins.

"More Shoreline idiots".

They finished without much trouble with the small group of mercenaries and examined the place.  
Not having found anything relevant they continued their way and passed through a narrow corridor that to its left ended in a cliff.  
Keilah clenched her fist around the jeep bar until her knuckles turned white and sighed with relief as they passed without much difficulty.  
They stopped by a small white stone tower and were all amazed at the sight.  
From there they could see the city and all the way they had traveled until they reached the point where they were.  
Keilah took out her sketchbook and quickly sketched the landscape, then took a picture of it so she could finish it later.

"Hey guys, there's another tower just over the hill".

"See any Shoreline mercs?".

"Can't tell".

As they moved closer to the tower they saw that there was a drawbridge on one side.

"Well, it would appear we got here first".

"Let's check the place out and keep moving".

They parked the car near the bridge.

"Drawbridge? How...medieval".

"Well, you don't put up a drawbridge unless you're trying to kepp people out...".

"Or protect something inside".

The tower Nathan had mentioned before contained Anne Bonny's sigil, which was a winged horse or better known as Pegasus.  
As he inspected the tower, Sam tried to help Keilah across the other side to help him find some way to get down the bridge.

"This is probably a shitty idea, but I do not want to sit around all the time doing nothing but look pretty...".

She held tightly the rope that she got from Samuel at the other side and after catching a run and impulse she jumped without thinking twice.  
When she reached the older Drake, he took her by the arm and quickly moved her away from the edge as she smiled at the emotion.

"It was amazing!".

"You have done it really well".

Between the two they tried to find some sort of mechanism until they heard a rumble and saw as Nate was going towards them hanging from a wood box.  
When he fell to the ground they came running to him somewhat worried.

"Hey kid, you all right?".

"I'm fine!".

Keilah looked at him relieved and Sam helped him to his feet.

"You all right?".

"Yeah".

Samuel pointed to the box in which he had been flying.

"You got this?".

"Mm-Hmm".

"All right, see you in a few".

"I'll bring the car closer!".

Sam came down to the other side to meet Sully while Keilah helped Nate with the box.  
When he climbed up, he found a crank that lowered the bridge and made it descend slowly, but he had to stop when Shoreline troops arrived.  
They all ran to hide and they finished little by little with them, even the irish girl managed to knock down a few from their hiding place.  
When everything was quiet again they lowered the bridge and approached the largest tower of all that they had seen until now.

"Big tower on a volcano".

"Looks like the end in sight, huh? but you know, not to nit-pick, but Avery spent all that money on towers, would it have killed him to put a guard rail up here?".

"Stop complaining Sam, at that time they could not even exist, much less that he thought of something like that...".

The area they came to was filled with water and some stairs led to the tower.

"So Sam, just how much do you owe Alcázar?".

"Uh...half".

"Half of what?".

"Well, he only know about the Gunsway heist...".

"Which is worth 400 million".

"Right, but if Nathan's theory is correct, then there's a lot more treasure at play".

"Well, you shuold told him it was...200,000, you never tell your partners how much a job is really worth".

"Wasn't exactly expecting to be "partners" with him".

Nate interrupted their little argument and laughed.

"Guys, we're going to find it, pay off that lunatic and still have plenty to spare, trust me".

Nathan hooked the 4x4 in a tree that was on the mud ramp before him and tried to raise it.  
The cable had been fastened behind a huge rock and as they ascended, it felll, causing the car to slide quickly to the right without being able to do anything.  
The car hung against the stone wall and tried to climb up.

"Okay! Don't panic! Don't panic!".

"I am very much panicking here!".

"That cable's gonna snap...!".

Keilah felt like the heart would come out of her mouth, her pulse was rattling and hearing that from Sam's lips did not make her relax at all.

"Sam, shut the fuck up!".

"Nate...?".

"Hit the gas! Pull us up!".

Enormous rocks were falling on them and if the redhead could have fainted right there.  
Bad luck made one of those rocks hit the 4x4, which fell precipitously to a stop.  
Nathan was dismissed from his seat and between her and her brother they helped him up again.

"You okay?".

"I've been better".

"Get us out if this, kid!".

The red head clung so tightly to the car that she thought she would break her hands.

"Hail Mary full of grace our Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb...!".

After much effort they managed to climb.

"Ah...well, that was fun, right?".

"Yeah? well, I'm definitely sharing this one with my shrink".

"Wait, you have a shrink?".

"No...but I will after this.

"Come on, you guys are over-reacting, Ihad the whole thing under control.

The irish girl got out of the car a little shakily and leaned against the back with her hands covering her face.  
Nate walked over to her and could hear a sob.

"Keilah, are you okay?".

Samuel turned in his seat and put his hands on her shoulders affectionately.

"Hey baby, don't cry, it's over now, you are safe".

She lifted her head and looked at Nathan.

"You are already on land, nothing bad will happen to you, relax...".

Keilah hugged him and when she had calmed down they climbed back to the 4x4.  
Sam put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead.  
Victor looked at her worriedly and squeezed her hand.

"Are you sure you're better now?".

"Yeah, I'm okay now, thank you".

She smiled and they continued.  
The bridge leading to the tower was broken in the middle and Keilah cursed softly before knocking on the car door.

"If I see another fucking wooden bridge, I'll shoot myself!".

Nate prepared to jump the gap and accelerated.

"Hold onto something!".

The impact on the other side of the structure hit them lightly and drove quickly until they were back on stable ground.

"Ah...well, that was a nice change of pace".

"Yeah, I'm almost disappointed...almost".

They looked around the place for some sort of entrance to access the tower while they thought of everything they could find inside.

"Keilah, the best is that you stay here to let us know if Shoreline appears again".

"Okay Sully, but let me know if you find something, I don't like to miss the good stuff".

"Of course we will let you know".

"You better do it and be careful".

The three men nodded and slowly disappeared from her sight.


	10. Chapter 10

A long while later she heared something under the floor and Keilah looked at the tower somewhat worried.  
She knew they were fine, but that thought did not make her feel better.  
After making sure there were no other human beings besides her, she left the car and went down some stairs until she came to a room with a hole in the wall.  
That had something to do with them and she followed that path.  
She climbed a flight of stairs that led her to a lift door that led to a huge circle through which stairs descended.  
Before lowering them, she realized that the sigil of Avery was in the center.  
With each step she took she was closer to her friends and climbed some rocks to pass under the small hole that had been under an arch whose roof threatened to collapse at any moment.  
Having overcome it, she tried to grab an edge protruding from the wall so she would not fall down the slope before her.  
While hanging against the wall she could hear a huge explosion and shots.  
She thought several times to enter, but unarmed she would not do much and it would only be a nuisance.  
When everything was quiet again she crossed the gap and found mercenary corpses and huge rocks that had fallen from the ceiling because of the explosion.  
She took her bag from the floor and looked for the three men.  
They were standing in front of a stone wall with symbols and when they heard something approaching, they turned around and pointed at Keilah with their weapons.  
The girl was paralyzed in place and they lowered them when realizing who she was.

"Sorry, Keilah".

She looked at them angrily.

"You almost shot me, bastards!".

She approached them stomping the floor and observed the stone wall.

"Have you discovered something at least?".

"Yes, and it is related to the coin from Scotland, it indicates the symbol of one of these two towers".

Nate pointed to the symbol of a balance and that of a trident.

"Sully and I will go to register the one that indicates the balance and Sam will go to the one that marks the trident".

She approached Sam and put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'll go with him, four eyes are always better than two".

"Agree".

They returned to the surface and she and Sam climbed into one of the cars where the mercenaries had arrived.

"If you run into any of those Shoreline clowns, call us, okay?".

"See you soon".

He started the car and little by little Nate and Sully disappeared in the distance.

 

When they arrived at Joseph Farrell's tower they began to register it.

"This is bullshit, we aren't going to find anything here, I hope they got the right tower".

"Me too...".

Keilah jumped down from the place she had climbed and Sam lit a cigarette.  
The red-haired girl offered him a bottle of water and they drank a little.

"I see you've improved a lot since the last time I saw you climbing".

"If you don't practice it does not get better, I even dislocated my shoulder during a climb and I came back as if nothing happened".

"With the shoulder like that?".

"It's not so surprising either, more so was the time I climbed a cliff wall, drunk in high heels".

Sam's astonished face was so funny that Keilah began to laugh uncontrollably.  
After calming down, she wiped her eyes.  
She told him the story about what happened that afternoon on the beach and he laughed before puffing on his cigar.

"I have to admit you have a good pair of balls".

"Thank you".

"We should move somewhere else, we may find something".

She nodded.  
The phone received some signal and rang a couple of missed calls and Sam called that number.  
Sully's voice could be heard on the other side.

"Sam! Finally, are you two okay?".

"We searched the tower, I got nothing".

"Yeah, well, we're definetly in the right place, make your way over here".

"Are you serious? Okay, see you there".

He hung up and they continued searching until they decided to descend and the older Drake received a message from Nate.  
After watching it carefully, he called him.

"Hey, you still in the tower?".

"Yeah, just climbed back down, what's with the picture you just sent?".

"I'll fill you in later, for now, just tell me who's who".

"Well, the dolphins are Richard Want, the trident is Joseph Farrell, and the two hands with the pearl is William Mayes".

"All right, great, stay where there's good reception, I might need your help again".

"Wait, Nathan, did you find the treasure?".

"No, not yet, but I got a mechanism to solve here; I'll let you know".

Nathan hung up and Sam and Keilah chatted until he received another message and responded quickly.

"Will they be close to finding it?".

"Who knows, maybe yes, maybe not".

More messages came to his phone and after careful inspection of the photos he smiled widely and received a call from Nathan.

"Sam...".

"For God and liberty", Nathan, do you undestand what this means?".

"Sam, listen to me, get off the streets right now and destroy your phones".

"What's going on?".

"Rafe knows where we are! All rigt, you gotta find some place to hide".

As they spoke, Shoreline mercenaries appeared and began firing at him and Keilah.

"Oh shit!".

Sam hung up and they ran to find a safe place to hide.

 

When they were sure no one was looking for them, they came out of hiding and found a motorcycle.  
They destroyed their phones as much as they could to prevent Rafe from locating them again.

"Come on Keilah".

The redhead looked scared and Sam took her hand.  
He knew she wasn't someone who was easily frightened and noticed a small pinch in his chest to see her like that, as it reminded him of the last time they saw each other before he "died".

"Everything will be fine, you'll see".

"I know you don't say it seriously and you only do it to calm me down, but thanks for trying".

She got on the bike and drove at full speed until they found Nate and Sully.  
When they arrived the city was chaotic and she was lucky Sam could leave her with Victor before going to look for Nate.

"Be careful and bring Nathan in one piece".

Sam started the bike and Sully the 4x4 and they went in different directions.  
Victor parked the car in front of the hotel they were staying in and waited for the Drake brothers to return.

**Author's Note:**

> * Go raibh maith agat - Gracias.  
> * Tá fáilte romhat - De nada.


End file.
